Editors' Pick

Home & Garden

Best Builder

TriVista USA

Remodeling is actually a second career for Michael Sauri, who runs the award-winning contracting business TriVista USA with his wife, Deborah. He spent his early adulthood playing guitar for rock ’n’ roll bands before making the transition to his current line of work—that after watching his bandmate’s father, an architect, build, renovate and flip homes. Sauri successfully remodeled and resold 13 houses on his own before he launched TriVista in 2005. It was a natural shift, he says, because there are creative similarities between musicianship and carpentry. “I learned how to inspire artisans early in my career as a musician, and I’m working with the same personality types today.”

Given that nearly all of his work is close to home in Arlington, Sauri regularly bumps into clients around town. That’s a reality that keeps him on his toes. “I’m the guy who can’t screw up your job,” he says. “I’d better not, because I’m going to run into you.” It’s easy to find him most weekends, in fact, because he still plays local gigs with his band, Girl X.